GSA Courthouse Management Group
Mechanical Lift Analysis
SECTION FOUR
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
SUMMARY
The desire of both GSA and the U.S. Courts to maintain a competitive bidding
environment requires that suggested improvements in the design, installation, operation,
and maintenance of the lift system and its components must be very practical in nature.
The Analysis has identified two system concepts that are feasible in the courtroom
environment. Both systems easily can be accommodated in the recommended independent
planning configuration. Standardization of the lift platform size would allow all
architectural detailing to be incorporated into the construction documents prior to
bidding. Concealing support equipment and related service access outside of the
courtroom and working with regulatory agencies to eliminate the handrail requirement
would leave the control buttons, mounted on the lift enclosure, and the platform surface
as the only exposed system elements in the architectural environment.
CURRENT FUNCTIONAL ISSUES
Survey responses, site visit observations, and a review of applicable regulations during
the Analysis generated the following summary of issues regarding system design,
operation, and maintenance:
Absence of dimensional standardization for the lift platform among the
systems most feasible for accommodation into the courtroom
environment;
Codes and standard requirements that apply to conditions greatly
exceeding the risks experienced at the lift installations in the courtroom
setting;
Many recent custom designs, which over-stress standard
design lift systems;
Nonexistence of planning guidelines that establish an effective
relationship between the lift and the witness box/judge's bench;
Enclosure gates that have unreliable operation;
Inability of hydraulic pressure to maintain a suspended platform over an
extended period of time; and
Section 4-1
HDR Architecture, Inc.
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